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Private member’s bill would kill rule forcing principals to hire based on seniority

Merritt Blundy's teaching aids remain in storage in her Waterford garage this fall. Thanks to getting married and moving, the experienced teacher has switched school boards and found herself in the position of having no seniority - meaning no possibilty of getting a job.
(GLENN LOWSON / FOR THE TORONTO STAR)

A private member’s bill to be introduced Wednesday would kill a rule that forces Ontario principals to hire teachers with the most seniority, and instead require boards to have fair hiring policies approved by the province.

The Tory bill would return to principals the power to hire the teacher they want for long-term and permanent positions, and not simply from a list of five occasionals who have worked the longest — as they must under Regulation 274.

“Parents have contacted me and said ‘teacher X is outstanding but isn’t on the seniority list and now we are going to lose her,’” said Progressive Conservative education critic Lisa MacLeod. “We’ve been getting emails from teachers, too — we’ve been getting hundreds of emails.”

Meanwhile, the Star has also learned that Education Minister Liz Sandals is going to launch a study on the impact of Regulation 274, in addition to the working groups she has created with concerned teacher unions.

“A team of expert researchers will conduct the study to gather data regarding current effective hiring practices, positive outcomes and challenges experienced by school boards and (teacher) federations since the regulation came into effect,” Sandals said in a written statement. “The study will ensure the voices of all of our education partners are reflected in the final report.”

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Regulation 274 was brought in because of concerns raised by the Catholic teachers’ union about nepotism. The regulation is opposed by every other teacher union, by school boards and the deans of Ontario’s faculties of education, who argue it prevents new grads from getting jobs and will hamper efforts to improve diversity.

Even teachers with years of seniority have been affected by the changes, because when they switch boards their experience no longer counts.

Merritt Blundy, who taught for six years in the Peel board before getting married and moving to the Waterford area, found herself sitting at home on the first day of school this fall.

Last year, she was able to land a long-term assignment with the Grand Erie board, but under the new regulation all she can get this year is the odd supply job. She’s even considering returning to Peel next year and bunking with family during the work week.

“Teaching is a wonderful career because of its variety — you might take on an early literacy role, maybe become a phys. ed teacher or a vice-principal one day, but I never thought I would be a supply teacher after I’d earned a permanent position,” she said.

Several boards have contacted the ministry to voice their opposition — including the Halton District School Board, which said the rule has had a “domino effect” on September classroom reorganizing, and led to “multiple teacher changes in some classrooms in a year.”

Grandfather Charles Wakefield, who volunteers at Toronto’s Rose Avenue Public School, said the parent council there is reaching out to other councils to lobby the government to rescind the regulation.

Both the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and its Catholic counterpart are also pushing for change.

“Parents expect boards to put the best teachers in the classroom for the good of our students,” said Bob Murray, of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association. “Regulation 274 prevents us from doing that, while handing the keys to the education system over to the unions.”

He said boards, for the most part, already have transparent hiring policies in place, but this would force all of them to do so, and get the ministry’s approval.

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